


B r o k e n P i e c e s

by Miicah



Series: Lining Scattered Memories [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 15:11:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miicah/pseuds/Miicah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their lives were propelled on a fated course the moment the four of them met. A story of the events that transpired in Kingdom Hearts II from the Twilight Town gang's POV, starting one week before the start of the game. Roxette, Namiku. Spoilers from the entire series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	B r o k e n P i e c e s

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net under my Wakaran a i xx account. Other than the joining of the first two chapters here (which I did because the events in those two chapters happen on the same day), everything else is the same as was posted there.
> 
> The first six game days of Kingdom Hearts II played in Twilight Town was honestly among my most favourite of the entire game, and I simply fell in love with Roxas, Olette, and the whole Twilight Town gang. I felt that this pairing and the group as a whole doesn't get enough love and attention, and so B r o k e n P i e c e s came to life. I hope fellow fans of this pairing will enjoy this, and that perhaps I can make new fans of this pairing!
> 
> I published this story on FF.net years before 358/2 Days was released, so there is a bit of a timeline issue, but let's just pretend there's a time gap between the two games, okay? I also use both the manga and the novel as my source material in conjunction with the game material, as well as my own personal spin on things, so don't be too shocked if what you see here isn't exactly how it went if you've only played the game.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

**C h a p t e r I:** Sowed Seeds

 

Past the chattering voices and crowded avenues of the Tram Common and beyond the quiet stillness of The Woods lies a house; though, considering the sheer size of the courtyard and the even greater length of the front of the house, it was more like a mansion. It was larger than any of the other houses in the extensive town, anyway. No one was sure who owned it originally as it had been abandoned for several decades by then. Dubbed, and quite creatively so, ‘The Old Mansion’ by the town’s children, it has been recently said that someone could be seen in the front left window.

But with kids being kids, too afraid to prove the rumor as valid and yet too full of pride to admit that fear and reject the ludicrous idea, it has become one of the town’s ‘Seven Wonders’, coupled with several other oddities that had been occurring in the world in the past few days. While the other ‘Wonders’ were definitely an eyebrow-raiser for the skeptical, no one knew how right they were about the girl that could be seen from the very lonely second floor window.

In fact, it was just like a quaint little family lived amongst the rumble that was The Old Mansion. Hidden deep below the structure, though from whom they were hiding so securely from was unknown, was a different world, so to speak. Unlike the other floor or rooms of the building, the basement was quite technologically advanced, having a brand-new yet rock-cold feeling about each subsequent room. At the end of this trail of rooms was a single room that was so pure white in color, and of light, that it could blind a person at first glance.

It was in this room, in front of a single pod that stood in the center, that the said mysterious girl spent most of her time. Partly by force and partly by her own free will, the girl worked tirelessly, drawing pictures and working a magic only she could perform. As much as she longed to piece together the broken pieces of memory of the young boy encased inside the pod that she herself had destroyed no less, the blue-eyed, blonde-haired fifteen-year-old girl could not help but feel for the lives that she was now responsible for wrecking in the process.

The resonating sound of the Clock Tower’s bell reached the girl where she sat—it was now three in the morning, though if one looked outside, the sky was locked with the orange, yellow, and pink colors of a sun that was neither rising or setting; a sky of twilight. Like the darkened, starry skies TraverseTown, forever stuck in darkness while still having a day and a night, the world fittingly known as TwilightTown was perpetually trapped between the dark and the light, though time was no such prisoner.

Gently closing the opened sketchbook, a colored picture of the pod-sleeping boy falling headfirst in a sea of water slowly fading from view as she did so, the girl in the plain white dress sighed, bowing her head before standing and placing the book down where she was just sitting down previously. She was finally making some progress in her work, though she had just barely begun. She had managed to unchain the links of false memory she had placed in his heart, but restoring the boy’s original memory hit a brick wall after that.

When _he_ found out about the delay, he demanded that the boy's other half be brought back from his ill freedom to make the boy complete again. Retrieving him was no easy task, and hiding him afterward only got more complicated. So many people were victimized for his desires. She probably would have forgiven him for everything he had done if he did it from the goodness of his heart and with the best of intentions. However, she was sure the man was currently being fueled by revenge, and so all his acts were of anything but good wishes, and were selfish and one-sided.

Walking the corridors out of the pod room that led to the computer room, the girl closed her eyes again as she walked past the man in red who sat before the numerous monitors, meaning no hate towards the black-robed person who stood by the other man with his arms crossed. The hooded person nodded a silent hello in her direction as she passed by, and just as the girl reached the automatic door, the man wrapped in the red bandages spoke.

“How goes Sora’s restoration, Naminé?”

Naminé slowed to a stop, though made no movement to turn towards the voice that spoke to her. She could feel the hooded man flinch his head slightly at the words, obviously interested in the reply she had to give. Naminé glanced at the main monitor from the corner of her eyes, where the words ‘Restoration at 1%’ flashed repeatedly. It was apparent that he knew how it was going, but perhaps it would have sounded different, better, if she gave a personal citation on the progress.

Moving her gaze to look at the door in front of her, which had closed when no one passed through it, Naminé responded. “I just began, but it seems that obtaining _him_ and creating this copy of TwilightTown was the correct route to take. I should have no problems from here.”

The man snuffed at her words, being able to pick up the subtle hints she was leaving behind. It seemed that she was still upset that he had turned the world into data and formed a second Twilight Town to place the Nobody in while they restored Sora’s memories…still distressed that he had her alter all of their memories as well. “It had to be done, Naminé. You should know that very well. The XIII Order—”

“Don’t you care that you’re tampering with their lives…with  _his_  life? You can’t tell me you’re doing this for the good of all worlds!” Naminé shouted suddenly, turned around to face him with a scornful look written on the features of her pale face. Sora’s other half…his friends…his happiness… _their_ happiness, being together. She understood quite well that Sora needed his memories back; she had owed him that much after all she did, among other reasons. Nevertheless, Naminé didn’t want to destroy any more lives. She knew Sora would feel the same way, too. “There has to be another—”

“There _is_ no other way, Naminé. If there was, surely I would have taken it. It is the fate of a Nobody, in any case.” The man paused, letting his last words simmer in the air and sink into the girl’s mind. He directed that last sentence to more then just Sora’s other half. When she did or said nothing, the man dressed in red continued, figuring she knew what, or rather whom, he was referring to. “Do not do anything reckless. If you jeopardize Sora’s process—”

“DiZ,” the robed man said tensely in a deep voice, his brief, single word cutting off the other’s completely. Before the interrupter could continue himself, Naminé butted in, seemingly finding the words now.

“I shall do what I believe is right,” she simply replied to his subtle threat, neither agreeing to do nothing yet not saying she wasn’t going to do anything, either. _I  have_   _to  make  right  the  wrongdoings  you  have  placed  upon  the  people  of  this  town._  “But I will not endanger Sora’s restoration. So do not worry.” Naminé left the room before either of the men could respond, the sound that the gears of the automatic door made when closing after her filling the silence that now encompassed the hollow room.

Closing his eyes, though the action could not be seen due to the hood that covered his face, the robed man made his way towards the door, meaning to go after the girl. He understood where Naminé was coming from, but all he wanted was for Sora to be himself again. He went through so much trouble in retrieving Sora's other half, after all—and he gave up so much more than he would let the sleeping boy or anyone connected to him know. With that said, the sacrifices had to be made, as painful as they were…for him, for her, and for them.

“Keep an eye on her, will you?” DiZ called after him as he walked to the door. The man paused to show that he had heard him before walking through the door. A small smirk danced upon his lips at the order; he himself considered tampering with the situation a little, too. _Still,  it’d  be  easier  on  them  if  they  did  not  know  the truth;  especially  for_ him _.  You  may  actually  be  making  things  worse  than  better,  Naminé,_ the man thought, walking up the flight of stairs that connected the basement to the library and then walking out of the library to the second floor foyer.

Naminé was no where in sight, but the man knew where she went. There were only two rooms that the girl went to, after all. Walking along the hallway towards the left wing, the man stopped before the closed door for a moment before opening it. The room was as pure white as the pod room—it was no wonder the girl didn’t seem to tan. Though considering the world was only of data, he guessed he shouldn’t have been surprised. He couldn’t understand how the girl could stand such brightness, or perhaps it was just him who was having trouble adjusting to the light.

Several pictures covered the four walls of the room, and even more littered the equally white table, chairs, and floor. When he was finally able to see and distinguish the girl from the rest of the room, he found her staring at a picture of a brown-haired boy beside a blonde-haired boy in a black robe, holding each other’s hands. Letting out a small sigh, the robed man walked up to her, stopping a few feet behind her and glancing at the picture himself.

“…Is this really all right?” Naminé asked the man, never taking her eyes off the drawn picture before her. The man said nothing at first, trying to find the right words to say to comfort the girl. He knew she would do what she had to when the time came, but that didn’t make any of it any easier.

“Everything will be okay in the end. I promise,” the man finally said, trying to believe in his own words.

The girl smiled faintly and turned to face the man, looking up at him. “You Destiny Islanders sure like to make a lot of promises, y’know?”

Laughing slightly, the man shook his head and shrugged, lifting his hands up helplessly. “Hey, I can’t help what that sap does. Always beating me to the punch, that guy,” he joked, though the back of his heart beat once in pain for what, or more precisely who, he was really referring to.

Giggling herself, Naminé smiled more brightly and took a step closer towards the man. “Thank you, Riku. You’re a good person. I wish you could see that. You should reconsider meeting up with them again after—”

“I told you, I can’t,” Riku answered angrily in voice that was not his own, looking away as his smile faded at what she was suggesting. “Not after all I did…not while looking like this…I am Riku no more.”

Naminé’s smile weakened at the painful words uttered, her sapphire eyes softening. For a fleeting moment, she wished that Sora’s instability affected Riku the way it did everyone else connected to the keyblader—Riku remembered Sora, which was more than she could say for anyone else. He did so much for his friends, and was going to do so much for them, and yet he still couldn’t forgive himself for a mistake that wasn’t even his fault. “Riku…” Naminé whispered before standing toe to toe with him and lightly wrapping her arms around his tall, dark figure. “Everything will be okay in the end. I promise.”

Amber eyes widened, though whether it was because of her words or the physical contact was not clear. She reminded him of Kairi; that was the first thing he realized when he met her at Castle Oblivion, and then just recently when he saw her again while he was working with DiZ. He still wasn't sure what it was about the witch that caused him to think of the redheaded girl he knew from back home. The sixteen-year-old promised himself that if he was going to fall for Naminé, it was going to be for who she was separately, not for whom she reminded him of. Any other way wouldn’t be fair to either of them.

Feeling his body begin to relax after tensing from the hug, the edges of Riku’s mouth went up slightly before dropping. Placing his gloved hands on her shoulders, he pulled her away to look at her. “You sure are original, aren’t you?” he said with a smirk.

“Well, it sure is hard to make creative promises when you guys are taking all the good lines,” Naminé responded with a grin.

Seeing her face lit up, Riku let out a laugh before removing his hands and taking a step back, turning so that he back was towards her. “But seriously, Naminé…” he trailed off, wanting to return to the original reason he went to her room in the first place. “Don’t go telling him anything. I _will_  have to stop you if you do. You understand, right?”

When he heard nothing following his remarks, he turned his head to glance at her, finding Naminé staring back at him with unsmiling and somber eyes. She now turned her back, returning to her previous act of looking at the drawing. _Oh,  Riku.  You,  too,  are  being  controlled  by  your  emotions.  Is  this  what  you  want,  or  what  DiZ  wants?_

Figuring she wasn’t going to answer him, Riku began walking towards the door, feeling remorseful that she wasn’t going to listen to him, but not about to back down on his ground, either. 

“…I understand.”

Naminé’s soft-spoken words caused him to come to a halt by the door. He knew that those words didn’t mean that she would cooperate, but merely that she had heard him and was going to do it anyway. Closing his eyes to prevent him from doing or saying anything he might regret, Riku left, leaving the girl alone once again in the white room.

“Just once…” Naminé murmured, looking intently at the picture. She’ll have to watch over him first before she tried anything. The Clock Tower bell rang once more.

It was now four in the morning.

xoxoxoxox

The ringing of the Clock Tower bell reached the walls of a blonde boy’s room, but to the young man sleeping, only the sound of a heart beating filled his eardrums. Lying on his side with no covers, as it was the summer season in Twilight Town, his breaths became increasing shallow as his dreamless night soon turned into one that was filled with nothing but broken dreams jammed together. Unbeknownst to him, it was strangely a dream of a dream…or was it really a dream? If it turned out not to be as such, which was it that was fake? So many questions stemmed from **s o m e t h i n g s o s i m p l e.**

xoxoxoxox

A brunette boy seemed to be immersed in water, floating in it calmly as if not worried that he shouldn’t have been able to breathe as freely as he was. That was probably because the boy had just recently awakened from whatever slumber he had be in and was a little groggy about where he was. Before he knew it, he began to sink head first through the water.

_…having **weird** thoughts…_

_… **real** , or not… **?**_

The sea of water was like a bottomless pit. The boy had fallen a significant about of distance already, but it looked as if he still had so much more to go. Every so often, the image would flicker, and instead of it being the brunette boy, it would be him, a blonde boy, falling helplessly, and increasingly faster, through the water. Before he could think of why he was suddenly the one falling in place of the boy, the dream seemed to beat like it had its own heart, and the scenery changed.

It was now blindingly bright, and the brunette boy was no longer submerged in water but standing on a beach. Reflexively, the both of them raised a hand to shield their sapphire eyes from the light until they adjusted. When they did, they noticed a platinum-haired boy that looked to be a year older wading in the water. The brunette boy seemed to know the other, but as he took a step towards him, he was strangely surprised by the tide that washed up by his feet. Getting over the fact that he wasn’t floating in it like he previously was, the boy looked up, where the image of the silver-haired person turning around as a giant wave was rising behind him flickered to another blonde boy wearing camouflage-like clothing before reverting back to the original man, who was now facing him and holding his hand out.

Blue eyes widened as the blonde boy recognized the fellow blondie and, as the brunette boy now, he ran forward to grasp his friend’s hand and save him from the crashing waves. Unfortunately, he was too late, and they both were brought under the tide. Coming to a stop after tumbling head over heels in the water, he was surprised to see his friend standing before him as if unhurt and unfazed by the wall of water falling down upon them. To further prove that point, the friend held out his hand again, smirking as if he intended to save him this time than the other way around. The brunette boy reached out for him, but the water seemed to all of a sudden flow against him, pushing him farther and farther away.

The images blurred together, and he was now floating up to the surface. Lifting his head out of the water to catch a much needed breath of fresh air, the brunette stood as he shook his head of water and looked around. It was no longer daytime, and the sky was a blend of colours the blonde knew quite well—twilight. As he moved his gaze ahead, the blonde realized that he wasn’t at the beach at his home but still on that island that the rest of the dream was set in, as the beach of his world warped into the beach of whatever world he was in. A redheaded girl was waving at him, the other hand cupped around her mouth to amplify her voice.

_“Sora!”_ the girl called, waving frantically. The brown-haired boy smiled and waved back, pushing his way through the water to make it over to her. The girl continued to wave, her image distorting into a brunette girl who dropped her hands excitedly as she saw him coming towards her, the background back to the beach of his world again. _“Roxas!”_ the brunette girl yelled happily, smiling brightly after she did so. The blonde paused moving for a moment as his name was spoken aloud, but his brunette friend was replaced with the redhead and the other beach once more. Being changed again himself back to the brunette boy that appeared to be called Sora, he made it to the shore, bending down to take a rest.

When he looked up, Sora smiled as his eyes locked onto the girl, who seemed to laugh at his silliness before her smile faded away at something else that caught her eye. Standing straight up, he turned to see what she was looking at, both set of blue eyes widening in joyous shock and confused fear at the falling shooting stars. Blinking as he tried to convince himself that he didn’t see another him falling amongst the stars, Sora gasped as he began to fall backwards. The girl gasped as well, tearing her eyes away from the sky to look down at him as he fell. The strange thing was, it was like he was falling through the air instead of hitting the ground or water.

Closing his eyes as he dropped headfirst through the atmosphere, Sora transformed into Roxas, who brought his head up to look back at the girl, who was now the brunette friend he knew. Stretching his hand out for her help, the brown-haired girl reached down towards him, wanting to save him just as much. _“Roxas!”_ she yelled, her voice no longer cheerful but scared now, before her image began to ripple like she was standing on water.

_Olette…_

Roxas laid his head back as she disappeared, confused as he was still falling through the air. Nothing was making sense. What had just happened? Passing by the setting sun as he descended downwards, he dived into the water, the dream making a full circle now as he was back floating through the same waters where it had all began. Roxas closed his eyes, wishing for the bizarre dream to be over. As he began to eventually slow down and flip around so that he was falling feet first, he reopened his eyes, wondering what was going on. It wasn’t long before his feet touched down on a solid surface, and as soon as he was sure he had stable footing, he shot up in a full standing position, looking around as the bottomless waters wasn’t so bottomless anymore.

There had to be a way out. Roxas’ eyes scanned one side before his head turned the other way and inspected that side. He couldn’t see anything dangerous, though whether that was because there was nothing there or because it was too dark to see made the feeling of security only half of what it should have been. His foot seemed to have tripped off some sort of alarm, as the floor that was beneath him began to open up as doves began to fly all around him. Roxas lifted both of his hands to shield his eyes, both from the bright light that was suddenly uncovered and to protect himself from the flying birds. 

When he believed the coast was clear, and his eyes adjusted to the light, he slowly lowered his hands, glancing at the lighted picture below him. Three of the people he slightly recognized as the boy named Sora, holding an odd weapon, and his two friends, since they did make an appearance in his dream earlier, but the dog-like and duck-like creatures were new to him. Moving his gaze from the picture to the doves, Roxas watched them scatter around with his mouth opened in awe—he was no longer underwater. As weird as the dream was, it was a beautiful sight to see white doves flying around him. Locking onto one of them as it flew right by him, Roxas looked up as the remaining doves flew off into the distance before him.

xoxoxoxox

Turning his in sleep so that he was now lying on his back, Roxas closed his eyes tightly before slowly opening them, greeted by the bland ceiling of his room. He took a long blink before opening his eyes again, pulling himself up into a sitting position. “What a…weird dream…” Roxas whispered, lifting his hands and flexing them to ensure he was alive and awake before dropping them down on the bed beside him. It wasn’t until his heart rate had returned to normal that he realized that his heart had been beating fast just moments before. Bringing a hand to clutch at his heart, the ringing sound of the Clock Tower bell moved his attention to his window.

Peering out for a minute, Roxas eventually turned his head to the small clock that sat somewhere on his crowded desk near his bed. Finding it sitting on a small cabinet beside a potted plant, he got onto his hands and knees to get a better look at it. 10 o’clock, it read. He was glad that it was summer vacation or he would have been late for school. If he didn’t get a move on soon, though, he’d be late with meeting his friends at the Usual Spot, which was happening in an hour from then. Jumping out of bed, Roxas went to get ready.

xoxoxoxox

When Roxas walked into their hideout, which looked to be an abandoned storage room of some kind in the Back Alley, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were already there chattering about small things as they waited for their final member to arrive. Olette was the first to notice him enter, turning her head to watch him. She opened her mouth to say a greeting, but seemed at a loss for words at the look on Roxas's face. As soon as he came in Roxas had made a beeline towards Hayner, a worried look on his face. Cutting in between her and Pence, who each stood on either side of Hayner, who in turn was in the center, Roxas held is hands out as if to grab him. Latching onto him by the shoulders, Roxas shook him, seemingly satisfied with the realness that he felt and the startled noise that Hayner emitted.

Before Hayner could properly shake him off and question him about the sudden outburst, Roxas had turned towards Olette. Jumping at the sudden attention, the brunette girl took a step back, not wanting to be shaken as Hayner was. She brought her right hand to her chest as if in defense, feeling her cheeks begin to burn up as Roxas seemed to sense her fear and decided to circle around her instead, inspecting her for something irregular. Relaxing slightly as Roxas stood before her once more and let out a sigh of relief, Olette glanced worriedly at Hayner and Pence. The former seemed as perplexed as she was, though the latter seemed ready for his examination. When none came, Pence looked slightly hurt.

They all remained silent, waiting for some sort of explanation to his odd behaviour. Roxas didn’t seem to pick up on anything, too glad that they were all safe to have noticed. Staggering backwards, Roxas sat upon his regular seat in the room, soon surrounded by his friends as they huddled in front of him. A few moments more passed and still no word from Roxas. Taking it upon himself as the leader of the group and best friend to the fellow blonde, Hayner stepped up and got into Roxas’s face, bending down in front of him with his hands on his knees.

“Yo, blondie, you got some explaining to do. What the heck was that all about? I think parts of my brain are still trying to settle back into their respective places.”

Roxas blinked, a little taken aback, and stared at Hayner as if it was the first time he was really seeing any of them. Rubbing the back of his head, Roxas let out an embarrassed laugh, trying to come up with an answer. “I just…had the weirdest dream. You were about to be swallowed up by this humongous tidal wave and I tried to save you but I couldn’t. Or at least…I think it was you. That was the weird part. These other people kept cutting into my dream. And Olette—”

He looked up at her, the concerned look in her eyes reminding him of the same exact look she had when she reached out for him when he was falling. He hated to see her so worried; pain was etched in his own eyes when he saw her like that. Roxas wasn’t sure why, but he just blamed it on the fact that they were friends—he wouldn’t want to any of them look that way, after all. “You…” Roxas wasn’t sure how to word it without feeling any more uncomfortable than he already was. He never saw her so happy, and he himself never felt so glad to see someone, like she and he were in his dream. Then to have to turn into how it did afterwards…the terrified tone in her voice…Roxas made a fist with one hand and quickly diverted his gaze from hers. He couldn’t figure out what he was feeling.

Olette could feel her heart break slightly as Roxas looked away from her. What had happened…was it so bad that he couldn’t even look at her? For some reason, she was feeling happy that Roxas had dreamt of her, but now she would rather him never think of her than be pained like he was if he did. Luckily for Roxas, he didn’t have to go any further as Pence piped in, pointing to himself with his index finger. “What about me, Roxas? What happened to me in your dream?”

Roxas thought for a moment before he looked up at Pence. He couldn’t recall the ebony-haired boy in his dream at any one moment. “Err, I think I must’ve woken up before you made it in there, Pence,” Roxas replied slowly, trying to let the boy down easy as he could see the change in Pence’s expression as he spoke. Before Pence, or any of the rest of them, could be down for long, Hayner had patted him hard on the back, chuckling.

“Don’t worry there, Pence. Tonight you’ll be the star of Roxas’s dream! That’ll make up for everything, right?”

Giggling soon filled the four walls of the room, and all seemed right in the world again. Backing away from each other as they went to sit in their respective seats in the hideout, Olette glanced at Roxas who sat on her left side. Compared to how Hayner and Pence sat off in the corner, it was like Roxas and Olette were prince and princess. She looked at him trying to find the words to speak; she wanted to clear the odd air that seemed to have gathered between them. “Hey, don’t worry about anything, okay? It was just a dream. It’s not like it means anything, right?”

Roxas’s eyes widened at Olette’s words, and he turned his head towards her, eventually smiling and nodding in agreement. She smiled and nodded back as well, relieved that he, and they, were going to be just fine. Pence joined in on the nodding, and soon Hayner crossed his arms and nodded, too. “Yeah, it’s not like TwilightTown holds any records for tidal waves. Anyway, I won’t be able drown if we never _make it_ to the _beach_ ,” Hayner added, stressing on keywords as he tried to make a point.

Catching on, Pence laughed and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms as well. “So, what exactly does everyone have in mind to do today?”

“Well, we certainly can’t go to the beach today,” Olette answered, holding her left arm to her side for support so that she could lean that way.

“And why not?” Hayner countered. They hadn’t been to the beach all summer vacation, and with all the talk of water and waves, he was itching to go swimming now.

“The preliminaries for the Struggle tournament are tomorrow,” Olette explained matter-of-factly. “If you guys expect to make it to the finals next week, you gotta past this first. I think we should all be practicing for it today, don’t you? It’s our last chance before tomorrow.”

Hayner grabbed at his head with both hands, shaking it in shame. “I think Roxas’s blender-shake fried my brain. I can’t believe I forgot about that! You’re right, Letty. Let’s find a place to get our Struggle on!”

The rest of them nodded and got to their feet, walking out of the Usual Spot and heading down the stairs at the end of the alley to the Sandlot, where the Struggle tournament was held every year near the end of the summer. They were greeted by several people as they were rather popular with the rest of the town, especially Roxas. It was probably not a surprise to anyone—they were friendly and nice to everyone, so it was only natural that everyone knew and liked them. Borrowing four of the foam bats from the cabinet after asking the keeper to unlock it for them briefly, they made their way to the center of the lot. They immediately began to hit each other playfully, the reason they were there temporarily lost, but their fun was interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the lamers. Why don’t you clear this space for a real champion?”

The four of them slowly lowered their bats and stared at each other before they turned their heads to look at Seifer, with Fuu, Rai, and Vivi standing behind him. Seifer was the leader of their little group, the self-proclaimed ‘disciplinary committee’ of TwilightTown. If they weren’t fighting with each other so much, all of them would have been pretty good friends—‘would have’ being the keywords. Seifer seemed to be so hell-bent and made it his life’s mission to make them all have a hard time enjoying themselves that being friends was more far-off than the sun itself—which was saying a lot.

Huffing, Hayner took several steps towards Seifer, beating the end of the bat to his shoulder. He was never the same person when Seifer was in the picture. It was said that the two of them had some history together before, but things fell apart someway or another—Hayner never spoke about it, so they were never clear on just what went on before. “Whadda talking about, beanie boy? The champions are already here.”

Laughing as if he had found something humorous in Hayner’s serious words, Seifer shook his head before pointing his own bat at Roxas. “Care to put your skills where your mouth is, chicken wuss?”

Glaring at Seifer, Roxas gripped his bat tighter, walking up towards Seifer so that he was standing next to Hayner. “Bring it on!” he muttered darkly. He was just about sick of Seifer picking on him and the others. If he could beat him today, it would certainly shut him up for a few days at least.

“Hayner! Roxas! Please don’t!” Olette called. She never liked how Hayner and Roxas changed around Seifer. She always worried that something would go horribly wrong one day, and she didn’t believe Seifer was worth all the trouble. Seifer would have been a tolerable guy if he just left them alone; she only had problems with him when he bothered them. “You, too, Seifer!” she pleaded with him, hoping that he’d be keen on her words if her friends happened to ignore her.

Seifer turned towards Olette, a sly smile dancing upon his lips as his eyes seemed to dance. Taking a quick intake of breath, Olette backed away slightly as the blonde slowly took a few steps towards her. Of all the years she’d known him, she had never been afraid of him before. But the way he was acting all of a sudden took her off guard. For one moment, she was certain he would hurt her, and that frightened her. If it was an act, which she was telling herself it was, he sure got her.

“What was that? Were you ordering me around?” Seifer asked in a faux innocent and hurt voice.

To Olette’s and Seifer’s surprise, Roxas suddenly stood between them, his arm out in protection of Olette. “Don’t take another step closer, Seifer,” Roxas said in a rather serious voice, holding his bat out in front of him to keep Seifer farther away. That tone in Olette’s voice…it nearly matched the one in his dreams. _And if Seifer’s the cause of that…_ Roxas narrowed his eyes at the thought. He was going to destroy whatever dared to hurt his friends.

“C’mon, Letty,” Pence whispered, pulling her away to give Roxas some room without having to worry about hitting them by accident. Olette gasped slightly at the touch, quickly looking at him as if afraid it was someone else. Nodding slowly, she looked back at Roxas as they moved towards the back of the lot. Roxas looked at Pence from the corner of his eye, sending a silent ‘thank you’ his way for getting Olette out of harm's way. With that done, he moved his gaze to look at Hayner, who got the message and went to join Pence and Olette.

“You be careful,” Hayner said as a piece of advice before he went.

“Ha, you guys better be ready to haul him to the hospital,” Seifer taunted before lunging towards Roxas.

Sapphire eyes widened at the unexpected attack, and Roxas was just barely able to bring his bat up to block it. Before him, an image flashed of the platinum-haired boy from his dreams, only dressed and acting differently, an odd-looking key pushing down against his bat, which changed into a different key as well. Gasping at the sight, Roxas was pulled out of it as Seifer pushed him back roughly and hit him across the stomach. Bending over, Roxas clutched at his stomach with his free hand, his thoughts about whether what he saw was real being merging with the thoughts of the pain he felt. Why was his dream continuing when he was awake? If it continued, he really might be sent to the hospital at the end of everything.

Seeing an opening, Seifer smirked and brought his bat down against Roxas’s back, bringing the blonde boy to his knees. “Roxas!” Olette cried out, wanting to run out to him but was being held back by Hayner and Pence. Moving his free had to his heart and clutching at the ground through the handle of the bat, Roxas breathed heavily. What was going on? He was feeling pain that was separate from the beatings he was receiving from Seifer. Looking back towards his friends, he was surprised to see the other girl from his dreams lying on the ground unconscious. Blinking, Olette’s tearful eyes looked back at him, along with the worried looks of Hayner and Pence. _An illusion?_ Roxas felt like he was losing his mind.

_“Sora!”_ The redhead girl’s voice filled the confines of his head. Whipping his head back around and up, Roxas lifted his bat in time to block another attack from Seifer, who seemed all too delighted by Roxas’ strange antics.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s too late to save yourself, chicken wuss,” Seifer uttered before lifting a foot to push Roxas roughly onto his back.

“Hey! That’s cheating, Seifer!” Pence yelled. Looking to the others, they nodded and began running over towards Roxas.

Roxas groaned, beginning to make a move to turn onto his stomach so that he could push himself up. But before he could, Seifer’s foot suddenly pressed into his back, pinning him to the ground. “Quick! Take a picture! It’ll last longer,” he ordered, smirking. Rai and Vivi suddenly appeared beside him and Fuu stood before them, holding a camera to her eyes. The three of them made a pose and Fuu quickly took the picture before Hayner, Pence, and Olette arrived to stop them. Lifting his foot off of Roxas, Seifer made his way over to Fuu, pointing at the camera as it spit out the instant picture.

“Now we have proof that we totally owned you lamers,” Seifer said triumphantly, taking a pleased look at the developed picture. “Catch you losers later!” he added with a wave as the four of them turned and left the Sandlot.

“Roxas! Roxas, are you okay?” Olette asked, severely worried, kneeling beside him and helping him up to his feet as he took her hand.

“I’m…I’m fine,” Roxas answered reluctantly, brushing himself off. Shaking his head, he held onto it with his left hand.

“Maybe we really should bring you to the hospital…” Pence said, trailing off at the thought that Roxas could die.

Letting out a small laugh, Roxas shook his head again, hoping that his friends would see that he was really fine. “Really, I’m fine, guys.”

“Then what the heck just happened back there? Seifer will never let us live this down for the rest of the summer!” Hayner questioned, though he was greatly worried about his best friend. Roxas paused, wondering the same thing himself. He couldn’t very well tell them that he was dreaming while he was awake, could he? They would surely send him to the psych ward instead of the hospital.

“I…I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little out of it today,” Roxas eventually said, hoping his friends would accept that answer. They all let out a sigh—they didn’t believe him, but they couldn’t question him, either. They’d just have to accept it since it didn’t look like Roxas was going to tell them anything more.

“Maybe we should lay easy on the practicing today,” Olette offered. She didn’t want to be near bats for a while now. She was feeling pretty bad now, too. It was her idea to practice, and then it was her fault that the fight started…she was the reason that Roxas got hurt. It was tearing her up inside.

“No, no. We gotta make sure that we win the tournament even more now! We gotta show Seifer…” Roxas said, clutching at the bat again.

The three of them looked at each other before looking at Roxas. Hayner patted him on the back and nodded. He understood more than anyone. “Right! But maybe a break will be good first. Those sea-salt ice creams are calling our names!”

The four of them were soon laughing, and they placed their bats down to go and get an ice cream. When they had left, one of the bats warped into the strange key-like weapon before reverting to the foam bat once more.

_Restoration at 1%._

Twelve more days until complete restoration.

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was curious, the photo that Fuu took was actually shown during Day 1 of the gameplay in Twilight Town: http://imageshack.com/a/img42/121/0soo.jpg
> 
> I simply just made a showing of how it came to be here in this chapter.


End file.
